Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, shown here in 2011, was part of the concussion-related lawsuits against the NFL. / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press

by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports

by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports

Conventional wisdom says the NFL won big in the proposed $765-million settlement of its massive concussion case with more than 4,500 of its former players and their families.

The word is that it pounded the little guys, the poor ex-players who were hit in the head so often they can't remember where they live. They received nothing compared to the billions they might have won, so the story goes, had they pressed on, fought the good fight and waited years for this case to come to trial.

That's what many of us think today, that the $765 million is just not enough.

But the people whose opinions are most important don't agree with that argument. The settlement was enough to the people who matter most â?? the ones who took it. These are the ex-players who have medical bills to pay right now. These are the wives and children who are trying to live with and help a man they barely recognize anymore. These are the people who would tell us that the $765 million is real money to them.

This settlement is not nothing to them. It's something. It's tangible. And they believe it will help them right away.

So who really won? Did anyone, really?

It's one of our most basic instincts as sports observers to immediately declare victory: "The NFL won." We've heard that a lot today. But what if there really is no winner in this case? What if both sides got what they wanted, not completely, but at least in part?

Certainly, the NFL has to pay quite a bit less than might seem fair, whatever fair is in a sport that we all know is violent from the get-go and full of injuries from Pop Warner on up. The settlement likely means the NFL won't have to disclose internal files about what it knew and when it knew it regarding concussion-linked brain problems. That's too bad because that's an important piece of sports medicine history.

But the most popular league in American sports did have to pay something. A settlement of $765 million isn't $2 billion, but it's also not zero. And while the settlement stipulates that the NFL doesn't have to admit guilt, we also know that the league is paying more than three-quarters of a billion dollars for some reason or other. If it's not official guilt, let's call it unofficial guilt. Bad things happened to players and the NFL is paying money because of it.

"This is an extraordinary agreement that will provide immediate care and support to retired players and their families," lead plaintiffs' attorney Christopher Seeger said in the statement. "This agreement will get help quickly to the men who suffered neurological injuries. It will do so faster and at far less cost, both financially and emotionally, than could have ever been accomplished by continuing to litigate."

A bit of a rationalization? Perhaps. But that sure doesn't sound like the comment of a loser.

This settlement is a conclusion of sorts, but this is an issue that is not going away. The NFL's payout includes $75 million for baseline medical exams and $10 million for research and education. There are children who haven't yet picked up a football who will use that money, or the additional funding that is certain to come in the decades that follow as we learn more about those violent hits to the head.

This is not the end of the concussion story in the NFL. It's more like the beginning.